2013 and earlier Honda Odyssey Prices Paid and Buying Experience

disport

Last night I purchased a 2003 Odyssey EX-L RES, Midnight Blue Pearl, for $2,100 below sticker price ($1,635 below base vehicle MSRP including destination). The EX-L RES has factory leather and factory DVD entertainment system. The dealer added tinting to the front 2 windows and DigiShield. I estimated the true value of the tinting and DigiShield to be $200 to $250. So my "real" discount on the price was probably closer to $1,850.

I don't work for Honda. I'm not a car dealer. I'm just your average consumer, and I thought this was a reasonably good deal. The salesman and the sales manager were both great to work with. They were polite, helpful and willing to negotiate. No sneaky deals.

I just wanted to pass this info along to readers of this discussion group.

The dealer is Vandergriff Honda, Arlington, Texas.

Oh, and as an added bonus they gave me 2 free oil changes at their shop plus any of the Odyssey accessories I wanted at their cost - no mark up. I decided on the cargo tray and mud guards. Now that adds a little to the value of the deal. In total I feel that I got close to a $2,000 real money discount.

Good luck to all with their Odyssey purchases. And have a merry Christmas!

cmb70

$24,200 out the door sounds great. About $400 better than I've been able to do. I have yet to buy though. Hope to soon, but I'm giving it a little more time. Have you made purchase?

bottgers

.......only to have it totally ignored.

sbpceap

Since we don't know each other personally, don't take lack of response personally. Having your post lost in the sauce happens often. I chose LX because I agreed with you; the options on EX were things I did NOT want (CD player with crummy speakers, power doors that can break and cost much money to repair). Like you, I wanted the alloy wheels. But at over $800 more, I had second thoughts. It's a minivan, for crying out loud; not a mustang or corvette. Besides, I like having vehicles and parts not coveted by thieves. Then, what do I do with replaced wheels, throw them out?
As for price, if you review past few month's postings, you would see that a discount of $1000 or more off MSRP is not too hard if you do your homework, shop around, show patience, and walk away from lousy deals.

bdaddy

A $1,000 discount on an LX is a bit agressive. I'd be happy with a few hundred if I were you. Suggest you look at aftermarket wheels. There is a website that lets you model various styles on your vehicle - I forget the site name - perhaps someone can post for you.

bcpage

It has been about 2 years now that I have been reviewing this board. The information was invaluable. Took delivery of a 2003 EX midnight blue pearl last Friday and also got 3.99% financing from Honda. The deal breaks out as follows:
Price for the van: $25,860
document fee: $51
PA tire tax: $5
MD tax: $1,293
MD tag fees: $182
HondaCare 7yr/100k w/ $0 deductible: $985
PA tax on HondaCare: $59.10
Total price of $28,435.10.
The only add-on was mud guards and they were included.
I live in MD and bought in PA. Thanks for all the great info!

stever

Bdaddy, I believe you are thinking of Tire Rack (one of our sponsors linked on the left).

Steve, Host

odysearch

No,I have not purchased yet. Still trying to work a deal out, but still feel I can do better. However, $24500 is the best I can find right now.

The $24200 deal did not work as they had a interesting way of figuring out the door price. Will keep everyone posted and if I can do better I will share with the board.

njswamplands

ok the details on where in PA, dealer, salesdude, etc plz??? i thought the 3.99% financing was a weekend only thing, is it still on and if so how did you secure it? remind the dealer? was it in stock?

hexn

Hi guys

I've been following the board for a while. I live in Silicon Valley and the price for the Odyssey here is just high.

It may be a stupid question, but can I buy an odyssey from other states and have the dealer deliver it to CA? Do I have to pay taxes twice? (once in the purchasing state and also in California).

I really appreciate if you guys can share your throughts and expierence on this.

Thanks in advance

njswamplands

some dealers will ship it, as around. on the taxes question, you will be stuck with CA tax only.

seguy

The way I've read into the CA tax law, if the state/county sales tax is less than your CA county sales tax, you'll pay a 'use' tax to CA which is the difference between the two. So ultimately, you'll pay your CA/county tax rate. Check out www.dmv.ca.gov

bcpage

The dealer was Antrim Way Honda (AWH) in Greencastle, PA. It was a great experience. I dealt w/ three different people during the process. First contact via email was with internet sales manager Cherie Weaver (very nice). When I called a few days later to speak w/ Cherie the day before Thanksgiving, she had left for the day and was going to be out for the Thanksgiving weekend. So, I spoke w/ sales manager Tom Richards and ultimately made the deal with him via phone. When I arrived at dealer to p/u van, Frank Boggs went over the van with me. I also met Cherie. They were all very professional.

You are right, the 3.99% was only available Nov27-Dec02. What they did was run the credit check during the special. Then they said they have a few days to put me in the vehicle.

As a side note, I could have gotten a better deal in Ohio (Cleveland/Akron area). But AWH was only about 50 minutes away from my house versus 6-7 hours for the Ohio dealers. Plus, the vehicle was available at AWH. And as I said everyone was very nice to deal with. It was a very pleasant experience. The Ohio dealers that I had also emailed were Park Honda, Motorcars Honda, Ganley Honda, Rick Case Honda, Chesrown Honda, and Jay Honda. I didn't have much luck in MD/DC/VA area.

Hope this info helps! Good luck!

njswamplands

i have expanded my area from NJ to OH, what are the details, if you dont mind, on your OH dealer experience? who had the best deal, etc. i am chatting with jay honda and hidy honda.

bcpage

I never spoke w/ any of them. It was all via email. The order I listed them on my previous post is from first to last. Park was my first choice, but not far behind was Motorcars. This list is based on my opinion of their email responses and their bids.

rocco99

I have a 1999 Mercury Villager. I am looking to trade it in for an Odyssey LX. I am looking at dealers in the Philadelphia, NJ area. Most dealers say they either don't have any vans or only one on the lot. Any suggestions? Anyone have any good experience with a dealer in this region. This will be my first Honda.

qwerty24

I wanted to post my price because I appreciated reading all of the information here while I was shopping. We bought an LX today, no added options, it had just arrived at the dealership that morning so our timing was lucky (the biggest problem in my hunt was finding one without having to wait 8 weeks.)

I had received a quote from the internet "special accounts" salesperson if I had wanted to order an LX. After a little confusion, ended up paying that price which was, including dest., 23,429. The only other fee was $50 documentation, plus title fee and of course taxes.

Every dealership I called (in the western Chicago suburbs) was willing to go below $24,000 including destination. It seems like the bottleneck has loosened a lot in this area, but the cars are still getting snatched up the moment they hit the lots.

dhammikar

I write to your email address. It bounced back! Pls. let me know the sales person at Vandergriff Arlington where you got this excellent deal. Thanks!

michael112

Thanks to everyone for all the great information. A few weeks ago I set out to buy an EX (no leather). I live in albuquerque so I e-mailed all the dealers in Denver, Phoenix, Albuquerque, and Dallas (we have friends and/or relatives in each town) I told them I would go with the lowest price (provided less than $25,720) + ttl. Within 2 days, 8 dealers responded with firm prices with ranged from over 28,000 to $25,860. To everyone that responded with a firm price I sent a reply e-mail aksing if they could beat my lowest quote of $25,860. I talked with a couple dealers on the phone but got no lower offers.

A few days ago my wife flew into Dallas (John Eagle is the dealer) and picked up an EX, with some misc add-ons it came to $25985 + ttl (more than the 25720 I asked for but I'm happy with it). For someone who doesn't like to haggle in person or play games the internet is a great way to get prices. When all was said in done the process of e-mailing and interacting with all the dealers probably took me 4 hrs.

Mike

clpurnell

Is a pretty good dealership to work with I have dealt with the internet manager there and he was a good guy who was willing to give me 1000 off a pilot EX-L RES. I was also able to get a quote for 8k off an Expy eddie bauer from there ford store. I work 5 min away from these dealerships and you can check their inventory on-line they are a couple of the best dealers I have visited in the area so far.

hschultz

and almost bought from him last month, except for two small problems:

1. Although he claimed to have the vehicle I was looking for (SBP EXL) in stock when we started talking that morning, but the time I was done playing phone tag games with several dealers and wanted to pull the trigger later that afternoon, it was sold. No problem; he had a SBP EX that he offered to put in after-market leather heated seats in for me (we could choose any color leather we wanted) for the same price.

2. A local (NC) ended up coming back to us with an unexpectedly low-ball offer ($26,700) and he had one in stock (arrived off the truck that morning). He could PDI it and we could pick it up that evening before they closed at 8pm. So I saved a few bucks and didn't have to mess with a one-way Southwest fare to Cleveland (or the miles on the Ody driving back) or after-market leather.

Nevertheless, I felt throughout the process that Dennis was a good guy.

balajip44

glad to hear about your deal...

is the price that you got($27000) incl of shipping charges.or, if you paid separately,how much did it cost you?i am looking to know the shipping cost (average)....

njswamplands

the 27,000 does not include shipping. shipping from CLE to nyc area of nj came in three flavors.

1) $550, flat bed on their insurance to linden, nj ( maybe some sort of truck transfer station? )
2) $450, flat bed on my insurance to linden, nj
3) $300, one of their drivers goes door to door with my new odyssey ( they actually drive the new car )

i am still deciding on how to ship it as of today, 12/16/02, as i need to work on some details of the shipping possibilites, where does money exchange hands on all of them, when do i 'own it', etc. i will post more info on the shipping world later....

njswamplands

i tried to find a local nyc area honda dealer that would come close to the price but no one wanted to reply to my last minute blast of emails stating 'get close to this offer and i but it today'. Since i had read good things about dealing with dennis and my experiences with him had been great. i went with the deposit late saturday and now have to work on getting my new vehicle home. will let ya know how the shipping issues go.

kingstaw

Just got my Black EX-L last week. Voss Honda in Tipp City (Dayton). Keith was the sales guy. Did the whole thing via email. $27,000. Includes destination. Easy. Had I not been set on the black model (only 3 in a 4 state region at the time), I think I could have gone a little lower. Thanks for the valuable pricing info on this board.

disport

By my calculations you bought that EX-L at a discount of $1,860. That's really good. Check my calculations. The dealer where I bought my Ody is regularly advertising $1,600 off MSRP, but he also tints the front 2 windows ($189) and adds DigiShield ($275) to every Ody on his lot.

$189 + $275 = $464

The sales manager told me that his cost for adding these 2 items is roughly $200, so I guess he gets to pocket the remaining $264 as profit. If you figure that he's discounting the Ody $1,600 and then pockets an extra $264 for add-ons, he's really discounting the Ody only $1,336.

Anyway, enjoy your Ody. You got a really good price.

disport
'03 Ody EX-L RES, Midnight Blue Pearl
Arlington, Texas

westend

I am getting a deal for 27000(27360 msrp+dest) for EX and then, since it is cloth, dealer is willing to add after market leather at his cost.this is because i was pushing for a big discount.he also says that after market leather will not have heated seating and other than that will look better than honda stuff.it is covered by 3yr warranty as well.how much is this aftermarket leather worth and is it good?
If you calculate discount from Ex-L price of 28860,i can getting $1860 off msrp but the only difference is front seat heating is not there.
is it good deal for Socal?

sbpceap

The front seat heating doesn't sound like a big deal. Isn't Southern California hot all the time anyway? (I'm from NY; what do I know?) Altho $1860 off msrp sounds good, you said "dealer is willing to add aftermarket leather at his cost". I would clarify this, before you commit, whether DEALER is paying, or YOU'RE paying at "his cost". Then you'd want to know how much more you have to lay out. He's a car salesman. Get the "out the door price" in writing! And if the leather looks like it once belonged to a whipped bovine with mad cow disease, then refuse to get in the saddle.

aaa_edgar_poe

Now why would Honda offer the CD player on the EX and the cassette player on the LX? Disgusting manipulation, that's why. I would think at this point CD players cost less to manufactur than a cassette player. Take this to other points -- I would not expect such manipulation on only this one point. The fact is these guys, and all car manufacturers, make these vehicles for about half of what it takes them to make it. FOr shame on them. Shame! ANd shame of these car salesmen that want you to give them what would be for me what I get paid for 3 weeks of sweat for their service for 1 hour. The Confidence Man by Melville comes to mind.

justinr1

Here in Chicago, a dealer is offering 2003 Odyssey EX for $25464 + TT, etc. And 3.99% financing for up to 60 months.

njswamplands

i am loving these prices.....

justinr1

Price of $25464 is good I think? Wondering if I should wait until the bigger 2004 Toyota Sienna comes out; hoping to put more pressure on the Honda Ody.

disport

Wow! IF the $25,464 includes destination and no other extraneous charges are added in the finance/business office, this is a good deal even without the 3.99 percent A.P.R. financing.

Go for it.

aloha1973

justinr1,

I'm looking for the Ody in Chicagoland area, can you give more details about the dealer?

jz5168

njswamplands,

i'm very thankful to your detailed writing. Interestingly I used to live in Cle area and Jay Honda was the dealer I used to go regular services. Now I live on east coast and wonder if I buy an ody from them, how the shipping will work. Another choice is buy an early SW ticket on a Sat, fly there, and drive the car back. That probably would be cheaper than $300.

Pls keep us posted on how you have the car shipped and how much you pay for it. Thanks.

njswamplands

times like this i wished i lived on long island so i could do southwest. unfortunately i live close to newark which is owned by continental as well as cleveland which has a heavy continental presence. therefore a one way fair is around $500, ugh.

my odysseys paperwork has been executed and the money wired to jay honda. car is going to be driven door to door by one of their employees with a chase car following to drive the driver home, all for $300. a great deal.

once again, dennis jenkins continues his great work by keeping me informed throughout the entire transaction and answering my numerous questions.

also, if any of you are interested in the pilot, check my and brian125 postings to the pilot price paid thread.

more later, god i love this place.

njswamplands

guys i am hearing things, lol. starting today honda is doing 3.49% financing until jan 2nd on new car purchases. can anyone else confirm this?

jz5168

The $25,763.25 for the Van (EX cloth), $50.00 for Doc Fee, and up to $19.75 for Title fees depending upon how you are paying for the Van.

This by the way is Motocars, a dealer very close to Jay Honda (I used to live there). What do you think? Should I take it?

Another thing, if I were to drive it home myself, that's around 350 mile from here, can it do damage to the brand new car? I'm concerned about the required break-in.

Thanks a lot.

Jack

stever

You may include the dealership where you purchased, but please, no phone numbers or email contact information. Additionally, posts that say "tell him xxxx sent ya" looks like solicitation (bird dog fees) and are also frowned upon. Thanks.

Steve, Host

nj_ody_buyer

Hi,
This discussion has been very helpful to me. Thanks to all. After 2 months of hunting around and contacting 30 + dealers from MA to FL on east coast, I bought my Ody from 10 miles from home !!!!!!
This is what I bought :
Silver EX - L / Quartz interior.
PRICE PAID : $ 27,500 (1386 under LIST)
+ TTL...
NO ADD ONs, no additional fees...except doc fee - $ 139.

No other dealer came close to this offer. I thought that this is the best i can get ....

Contact BURNS HONDA Of NJ in Marlton.
Name of the person : Joseph Mitchalati.

Have fun .....

regards,
nj_ody_buyer

bdaddy

Can't comment on the price but no need to worry about driving 350 miles with your new van. Break-in is largely a myth from our fathers' era. I've heard the argument that "the valves have to seat" and so on. If a valve train isn't seated after 30 minutes at 2,000 rpm, when will it seat? Odysseys have come under criticism for several mechanical problems lately. Engine problems are not on this short list. Honda makes some of the finest Formula 1 race engines - do you think they are broken in for the first couple thousand miles? "Easy for the first 500 laps, O.K. Emmerson?" Drive your van, relax and enjoy.

brian125

anybody looking to fly to jay honda out in clevaland try spirit airlines its about 80 dollars to get there.i hear they give a great bag of peanuts.

njswamplands

i went to their web site and i dont see cleveland as a destination, am i missing it somewhere?

justinr1

Dealer is CARRS HONDA in Chicago. They had $25,464.00 for 2003 Ody EX listed on Thursday's (12/19/02) Chicago Tribune. I spoke with someone and confirmed the price and will stop by tomorrow. I specifically asked if THAT PRICE was only for ONE Ody. And I was told that it applied to ALL in stock. They have a Silver and Red EX as of yesterday, the two colors I'm interested in. I'm sure they have others. Also confirmed the special financing rate. Good luck.

brian125

sorry for the mis info. the peanuts are to die for.

idahovanman

Just drove a 03 Ody (EX) off the lot last night. Paid $25, 463.00 plus TTL. To our surprise, Honda offered to finance the purchase at 3.49% for 60 months. It took us a few days of negotiating, but well worth it. Purchase the vehicle at Larry Miller Honda in Boise, ID.

stever

Congrats on the new van, neighbor (I'm in Boise).

Steve, Host

njswamplands

yeah right, your on the road 365 days a year i thought lol. now if we could only get these nyc area dealers to wake up and see the discounting.

brian125

i was thinking the same thing about ny/nj honda dealers hell i already sent 3 dealers in new york and 1 in newjersey my conformation emails from 4 dealers out of state, telling me that for 750 over invoice they would sell to me. my closing line was to all of them.Happy Holidays from the consumers in the honda pilot forum.your pricing greed will come back to haunt you.

stever

It's probably only a 40 hour drive from Boise to Manhattan - come on out ;-)

Steve, Host